The Search
by AshMish111
Summary: Two lost, weary souls collide on their own personal searches for the cure to eternal loneliness. Crossover. Damon/Kagome
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or locations found in The Vampire Diaries or InuYahsa: A Feudal Fairy tale.

 **A.N.: WELCOME one and all to my new Damon/Kagome crossover pairing! I have fallen in love with this pairing and couldn't stay away, so here we are :D I hope you enjoy this new story, this chapter will seem a little sad, but it won't stay that way in later chapters, I promise! Onward!**

Kagome shuffled into her small apartment with a weary sigh, her luggage and fatigue weighing her down. She dragged herself into her bedroom, dropping her bags onto the floor before collapsing onto her bed with a grunt. She sighed in exhaustion and disgust, toeing her traveling boots off and letting them fall to her floor with a dull thud. She pulled out her cellphone and turned it on, watching blankly as the phone screen flashed with each notification she'd missed since she'd boarded the plane. Most were her mother inquiring about her safety, but there was one from her brother, and several from her friend Yuka, the only one of her little group of girlfriends she'd kept in contact with since high school graduation when they'd all split up for university.

University for them, anyway. Kagome, much to her mother's disappointment, chose not to attend a university. She had kept herself mildly busy with some local college courses to appease her mother somewhat, but simply had no more heart for trying to build a typical, successful life on this side of time.

Kagome continued to stare unseeing at her phone long after the screen stopped flashing, making half formed plans to visit her mother tomorrow before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

'Another trip completely wasted.' She thought with disgust, scrubbing the fuzzy film from her teeth that had formed after she had fallen asleep the night before without brushing them. She splashed some warm water on her face, then patted her skin dry and examined her face in her mirror above her sink. What she saw made a dull echo of dread pulse through the pit of her stomach. It had been another year, 15 in total now, and she still looked no different at all as to when she'd returned for good from a distant era where she'd lived a true fairy tail, one that had ended in a nightmare. It was a nightmare she'd had often. It haunted her even all these years later, taunting her with all she'd sacrificed and lost, all that had been taken from her. She'd had it again just last night.

She shook off her daze, eyes refocusing on her image in the glass before her. She frowned at herself, then stuck her tongue out childishly before huffing and returning to her room. She grabbed her keys and phone and made her way outside, intent on making a visit to her mother today.

* * *

"Hello my dear, how was your trip?"

Kagome could hear the apprehension in her mother's voice, she'd had a harder and harder time trying to hide it each time she asked it. Kagome smiled kindly, understanding her mother's concerns and what she was really trying to ask. _'Did you find anything? Are they out there? Have you got your answers? Is my baby coming back?'_ She didn't hold it against her anymore.

"It was great mama, Russia was beautiful."

"Well that's good dear. Where to next?"

"Oh I don't know. I haven't decided yet. I thought I'd stay and help around here for a few days."

"I would love that Kagome! It's always so good to have you home. Your room is ready and waiting as always." Her mother patted her cheek and then shuffled off to the kitchen to make some tea, leaving Kagome to take her stuff upstairs to her old bedroom. She returned downstairs to join her mother at the kitchen table, sipping at her tea and letting it warm her completely. This was one of the few places she ever felt a measure of peace, she liked to soak up as much as she could.

"Kagome dear, how has work been?"

"It's been work. Nothing very interesting I'm afraid."

Her mother gave her a cheeky smile, and Kagome braced herself for what she knew was coming next.

"Have you met anyone special recently?"

"Afraid not mama."

"Well then, I suppose I could tell you. Hojo came by the other day asking about you! Maybe you should call him. It couldn't hurt."

"Hojo? I thought he was married."

"Oh that fell through years ago. But he's still the same sweet boy he always was. He'd be good for you!"

Kagome took another sip of her tea to hide her disgust at that idea. She'd worked pretty hard to shake Hojo off of her all those years ago, she was not going back down _that_ path ever again. Still, she disappointed her mother enough with her decisions as it was. She supposed she could let her at least think she could have this one.

"Um, sure mom. Maybe. We'll see." Her mother's relieved smile made her feel the faintest bit guilty, but she'd tried so hard to make her mother see that the normal life she'd always dreamed for her daughter just wasn't in the cards anymore.

"How's Sota?"

"Oh, wonderful! He and Sakura are expecting! Finally, my first grand baby."

Kagome felt nothing but genuine excitement for her mother. She deserved grandbabies, even if she herself couldn't give them to her.

"That's so great mama. That poor kid is going to be so spoiled."

Her mother patted her hand and cleared the tea cups from the table, settling in to make dinner.

* * *

 _"Hello Kagome. Well done, my child. I give you my thanks for completing my jewel."_

 _"Midoriko-Sama!" Kagome gasped, looking up at the shining Miko floating above her._

 _"Yes Kagome, it is I. Though I do not have much time, I'm afraid. I'm here to offer you a gift. A thank you for completing your duty to the jewel and the Kami. You may make your wish, whatever you please, and the jewel will grant it on one condition."_

 _"Condition?"_

 _"Yes. You must agree to guard it with your life. It will be yours to protect now. Your heart alone is pure enough to ensure it's safety. If you can agree to these terms, you may have your wish."_

 _"Yes. Yes I... I agree. I'll protect the jewel, Midoriko-sama."  
_

 _Midoriko appeared to visibly relax at Kagome's compliance, a radiant smile spreading across her ghostly face. Kagome just missed the edge of apprehension crinkling the edges of her ghostly eyes.  
_

 _"Very well child. What is your wish? Think carefully Kagome, for once it has been spoken, it cannot be undone."_

 _Kagome nodded firmly, then cast her eyes down at the grey void she now floated in. She recalled her most recent conversation with Inuyasha, and her heart constricted with the bittersweet memory. They'd stayed up well passed when the others had fallen asleep. Sango and Miroku had pulled their bedrolls close together, wanting to be as close as possible for as long as they could, the uncertainty of the next day's battle looming over them. Shippo and Rin slept in a tangled heap of limbs in her own sleeping bag, Jaken resting against a tree close by. Sesshoumaru had taken to patrolling around the camp in the night, ensuring no sneak attacks by dishonorable opponents. It was just she and Inuyasha, her best friend, the male she loved. He'd taken her hands in his and held them as he spoke, her soft blush invisible thanks to the warm glow of firelight. She tried her very best to hide her heartbreak as he spoke, but with every word her heart cracked and splintered further, and the pain drove several stray tears down her cheeks. He'd pleaded for her to understand, reassured her how much she herself meant to him. He was asking for Kikyo, another chance at their happiness. He must have known she would not have refused him anything. She felt no hesitation when she agreed, and he hugged her close. One cursed sob escaped her, and Inuyasha crushed her closer, whispering apologies into her hair for a love he couldn't return, a life he couldn't give her. She pulled away and went to her bed, taking comfort in the warm snuggles of the children she'd come to love so much in her three years here. She spared one last glance toward Inuyasha, catching the glint of his silver hair as he lept high into the branches of one of the surrounding trees. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling several more tears leak past her lashes, and allowed sleep to take her._

 _She looked back up into the transparent visage of the long dead warrior Miko. She knew what she would do. She would sacrifice her happiness again. She'd do it for Inuyasha, for she loved him, and he deserved it. She'd do it for Midoriko, for she deserved rest and peace. And she'd pray that the Kami would have mercy on her someday, that she'd find her own happiness one day, that she wouldn't always find herself on the short end of sacrifice._

 _She bucked up all of her courage, sniffed back the fresh wave of tears that had built up in her throat and behind her eyes, and nodded again in determination._

 _"Inuyasha, he..." she closes her eyes and sighed, regrouping her thoughts. She had to word this right._

 _"I wish for Kikyo to be returned to life at Inuyasha's side."_

 _Midoriko reached out and cupped Kagomes face in her corporeal hands, a look of pride and sympathy settling onto her beautiful features as she looked deep into Kagome's eyes.  
_

 _"Oh my child, what a heart you have. So you have wished it, so it shall be done. Go in blessings my dear one, and rest in the knowledge that you have bought your own happiness this day, for you have made the gods proud." The jewel in question floated up between them before shattering into glittering dust and settling into the younger Miko's skin. Midoriko leaned forward, placing a kiss on Kagome's forehead. Kagome closed her eyes and sighed, a feeling of warmth and peace washing through her. When she opened her eyes again, she was standing back in the well clearing, a stunned Inuyasha greeting a newly breathing Kikyo; a tearful Sango and a pensive Miroku made their way towards her with their arms open. She readied herself for their embrace, the siblings of her heart, wishing that her beloved kitsune kit was with them instead of safely back with Kaede, when a surge of power from the well made her gasp in apprehension. Sango and Miroku stopped in their tracks, looking behind her with looks of confusion and dawning horror as they realized when was happening. Inuyasha's own panicked outcry made her turn her attention toward the well. The bright blue lights that usually engulfed her on her way through time were surging out of well, swelling up and around before reaching out toward her. Panic seized her and she turned, ready to run and hold on to anything that would anchor her here. Inuyasha reached out for her, and she had almost clasped his hand when the blue lights wrapped around her and began pulling her back toward the well._

 _"No.. Kagome!"_

 _"Inuyasha! Help!"_

 _He had nearly caught her when the azure lights of time engulfed her completely. His hand passed through hers as if she was nothing but a spirit. She was dragged down through the passage of time and deposited onto the dusty floor of the well in her own era. She glanced blankly around at the dark walls surrounding her, then up at the roof of the well shrine that housed the well in the present. Her shock wore off and the tears came again. Panic choked her, causing her breaths to become short and gasping. She stood and climbed halfway up the ladder hanging down into the well, before jumping off and down toward the floor again. She landed hard on her feet, pain lacing up her legs. She pushed it away and stood again, climbing half up the ladder again and leaping back into the wells depths. Several more times she tried to activate the time slip before a wrong landing had her rolling her ankle in a painful angle. She scooted back to lean against one of the well walls, holding her stinging ankle as tears marked tracks through the dust and blood on her face. She wept bitterly, tried digging her way through to the other side until her fingernails were all shorn away and bloody. Finally she gave up, gingerly climbing her way out of the well, only to collapse against the outside of it. When she woke again she was cleaned and in bed, a glass of water on her bedside table compliments of her mother. Her tears blurred her vision again, and she sank back into her pillows in despair.  
_

* * *

Kagome woke with a gasp, her emotions swirling inside her as her crippling heartbreak from the dream lingered inside her for a few moments longer before fading to a dull ache. It receded back into the dark recesses of her heart where she'd been trying to banish it since she woke that first day after the fateful battle with Naraku that changed her life again forever. She laid in bed, as she usually did after having that particular nightmare, and let herself sulk in it for a time. If she'd known just what Midoriko meant when she had said she'd be the jewel's new guardian, _"you must guard it with your life,"_ she just might have thought a little harder before making her final wish. The true scope of her agreement hadn't been clear at first. It had taken many years for the true magnitude of the price she'd payed for that one wish to become evident. When Sota had turned 18, the age she'd been on her return from the past, many people had complimented her on remaining so youthful, asking her skin care treatments and remedies and secrets to maintaining her complexion. She'd brushed it off. She was only 24, many people remained quite youthful early in their 20s. When Sota graduated college, many asked her if she was proud of her elder brother, and if she'd be following in his footsteps to the same university. She'd laughed it off awkwardly, shocking people with the fact that she was actually the elder sibling.

She knew something was wrong when Sota had reached his 25th birthday, and then subsequently his wedding to his college sweetheart. Upon receiving the formal family wedding photo, her mother had had it framed and hanged it next to a family photo they'd had done when she was 17 on one of her brief visits from her mission. She was shocked to see that she looked exactly the same in each photo, despite them being taken 14 years apart. It had hit her then, what Midoriko had meant by "guarding the jewel." She'd meant forever.

That had started her on her current mission, which she was about to start anew this very morning. She'd never truly managed to shake out of the depressed fog that had clouded her mind since returning to her birth era. She had an ever present feeling that she simply didn't belong. She'd lived through to many spectacular events, known too many truly magical people and beings. This world she lived in now was too grey, too dull, too... not for her. The well had never opened again, and none of her youkai companions had ever come looking for her, so she determined to look for them. She'd swept her Miko aura out in large waves wherever she went, hoping to draw someone too her who could sense it. She widened her search perimeter more and more, worrying her mother when she kept getting fired from jobs for her excessive traveling. She began writing about her adventures, vaguely anyway, and making money as a freelance fiction writer to fund her searches. When it seemed Japan was a bust for supernatural beings, at least any that could still be sensed the traditional way, she looked OUTSIDE her birth country for any evidence of anyone with even a drop of magic In their blood. She scouted online newspapers and blogs and conspiracy sites, looking for anything that could mean someone somewhere was more than what they seemed. She'd follow a lead, search the area, pulse her aura, ask the underground conspiracy channels. So far all of her searches had turned up nothing. She could tell her mother worried, she'd been pretty obsessive about it, but she needed to find somewhere to belong, someone to who would be as long lasting as she was, something to cling too while she watched her family age and die before her. Her last lead had taken her to Russia, from where she'd returned only two days before. That search had also turned up nothing.

She sat down in front of the computer that was kept in her brother's old bedroom, booting it up and opening the web browser. She made her usual searches with her usual key words, scrolling past things that were obviously fakes, or paranoia laced ramblings. She was about to close it down and head downstairs for food and fresh air when one headline caught her attention. She opened the article, something about killer animals and large sygils burned into forest floors, and read through it, deciding that this is where she'd start for her next journey. She bookmarked the article, intending to use it as a starting point to further research this particular town. She scrolled back up to the top of the article, memorizing the location, feeling that unsinkable hope bubbling up in her heart again.

"Mystic Falls, eh? Well, I've never been to America before."

* * *

Kagome shoved her carry on luggage into the overhead storage above her plane seat before taking her spot by the window. She leaned her head against the glass and sighed, recalling the confrontation she'd had with her mother a few days before.

 _Kagome sat at the tablet across from her mother, picking at her breakfast, uncomfortable at the slight tension between them. She had already been there several days, and since starting her searches nearly two years ago, she never stayed for longer than that. That she would be off on another "adventure" was inevitable, and that her mother would disapprove was not a question. Her mother cleared her voice, a strained smile barely stretching her lips as she addressed her daughter before her._

 _"So, my dear, what are your plans now?"_

 _Kagome allowed herself a moment to try to find a way out of the awkwardness that would follow, but it was unavoidable._

 _"There's this town in America I thought I'd check out. You know, mysterious happenings, occult symbols burned into the forest... and I've never been too America! So that will be exciting."_

 _Her mother put her tea cup down and sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before meeting her daughter's eyes, agitation evident from their grey depths._

 _"Kagome... when will this end?"_

 _"When will what end, mama?"_

 _"THIS, Kagome! Traipsing across the world looking for magic, putting your life on hold to look for the past! It's time to move on Kagome, to settle down. You are restless and depressed. I want you to be happy!"_

 _Kagome felt tears threatening to spill from her eyes. This was a conflict a long time in the making, but It didn't make it any easier to face._

 _"Mama... marriage, children... that's just not going to happen for me now. It's not in the cards for me anymore."_

 _"And who decided that? You did! You've been punishing yourself long enough, Kagome. Inuyasha is gone, the past is dead. It's time to-"_

 _"Mother LOOK at me! Open your eyes and LOOK! I'm not aging, mama. It's time to face the facts that I'm stuck like this... FOREVER! And don't give me that crap anymore about Aunt Mei always being youthful. SHE didn't look like and 18 year old GIRL as an almost 40 year old woman!" Kagome stared down at her mother from where she'd risen from her seat, taking in her wide eyes and the pale flush of her cheeks. She hoped she'd finally made her mother see._

 _"This is my price to pay for using the jewel, mama. When I agreed to protect it, it meant FOREVER. I'm going to watch you die. I'm going to watch Sota and Sakura die. I'm going to watch their children, and their children's children, and their children's great great grandchildren age and turn to dust. And still I will remain, just this way, forever. Don't you see? I NEED to find someone, ANYONE who might be even half so long lived. I cannot face the endless centuries before me alone. Mama, I would love nothing more than to live normally, to give you lots of grand babies to spoil into rotten monsters... but there's nothing to say they'd be as immortal as I am. Would you wish me to watch my own children age and die before me?" Tears streamed down her face as she uncorked the bottle of her darkest fears and poured them before her mother at last, praying to every Kami she'd ever heard a name for that her mother would finally understand her and her need to keep going, her fear of just settling down only to end up alone and adrift once more._

 _She watched as realization slowly trickled into her mother's blank stare, and the next thing Kagome knew, she was being cradled in her mother's arms, both of them a sobbing puddle on the kitchen floor._

Kagome sighed once more and placed her ear buds into her ears, rubbing her hand across her chest at the feel of old echoes of pain that were still leaching from her soul. Her encounter with her mother had been painful, but necessary, and she could feel her heart lightening every time she realized she was no longer carrying the burden of her secret immortality completely on her own shoulders. As the plane took off, Kagome turned her music off, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

* * *

Mystic Falls was one of the more picturesque places she'd seen on her extensive travels. It seemed, so far, to be a slow, quiet place. Perfect for her first voyage into America. Her English skills were still very sharp from how much time she'd spent in Europe over the years, which was another layer of comfort traveling alone in a foreign country so far from home. She turned down the radio in her little rental car to better focus on the navigating voice coming from her phone as she tried to find the little motel she'd be staying in over the coming weeks when a ping off her senses caused her to screech to a stop on the, thankfully empty, road she was currently driving on. Her face drained of all color, and she felt her heart falter and her palms sweat as she felt, finally, after so long, a feeling she'd spent much energy searching for. She reached out with her own aura and grabbed hold, spinning her car around and heading in the direction she felt the familiar tinglings of the faint, creeping tendrils of magic.

* * *

Damon Salvatore walked out of the front door of the house his now human brother shared with his now human wife. He and Elena had taken The Cure together just a couple years ago, and had moved into this small, quaint house after getting married just last year. It was very strange visiting with them now, though he tried to visit often regardless. They were like two completely different people since taking The Cure, and though it had been several years, it was still a lot for him to accept. There was a lightness to them now that neither had had as vampires, a contentedness that he didn't even know was possible. They had offered The Cure to him as well, but he had refused. While it was clear that they had never been meant to live forever as vampires, he wasn't so unhappy with himself the way he was anymore. He wasn't even sure he'd know who he was anymore if he _wasn't_ a vampire. He tried not to think too much about the fact that they both already looked older, like more "adult" versions of themselves. That his "baby brother" wasn't so obviously the young one anymore. He focused instead on another bit of alarming news he'd just received-he was going to be an uncle. Another thing to wrap his mind around and assimilate into his new reality: his brother and Elena could have children. It was not something vampires were capable of, being technically dead, and just another box to check on the growing list of differences separating him from the only family he had left.

He made his way to the town graveyard to sulk for a while. It had become a favorite place for him of late. There were rarely people there, and when there were, they were quiet and kept to themselves. It was the perfect place to do all the thinking and introspective prodding he'd been doing. He didn't _enjoy_ doing this, per se. Brooding was something _Stefan_ liked to do. But he couldn't deny that it had helped him settle some things within himself that had previously been restless and volatile.

He had realized that he didn't really enjoy hurting people as much as he thought he had. One of those "over compensation" things from his rough upbringing, he supposed. He also didn't need Elena half so much as he previously thought, either. He had been able to completely settle his heart where she and Katherine were concerned, and could genuinely be happy for her and his brother. Still, there were several sharp things poking around in there and causing him discomfort, things that he wasn't entirely sure of, so here he came, as often as he could stand, to brood until he figured it out. He figured it was better than just murdering people and ignoring it, in any case. He was simply trying to be _better._ His brother's newfound mortality had sobered something in Damon that nothing else had successfully sobered before; he would be alone one day, and sooner that he would like. When Stefan finally grew too old and passed on, there would be no one left ready to accept him completely as he was. As often as they had clashed, as different as they were, as vehemently as Stefan had disagreed with _most_ of the choices he'd made, Damon always knew there was someone out there worrying for him, loving him no matter what. And that, he realized, much to his disgust, was the whole problem: he wanted to be loved. And that was the other problem: he _wasn't_ very lovable. His life thus far had been an extreme act of self destruction, most likely sparked by his abusive father. And then being pitted against his own brother by the first woman he'd ever thought he loved. And then having to compete against him _again_ for that same woman's doppelgänger. He had lost both times, and he couldn't really say, anymore, that it was anyone's fault but his own. If he didn't want to spend the rest of his eternity on this earth alone, he had to stop trying to destroy anything good in his life for selfish, temporary gains. And so here he came, and here he sat, and here he _brooded._

* * *

Kagome drove as fast as she dared, that tantalizing tendril of magic growing stronger, curling around her and beckoning her forward in a hypnotizing dance. Her heart thundered in her ears and her palms felt slick against her steering wheel, but she gripped tighter and breathed deeper and pushed forward, desperate to end this fruitless search once and for all, to finally have her answers one way or another. She parked outside of an old cemetery, ignoring the fact that it seemed a cliche place for this to be happening, and stepped gingerly through the already open gate. She walked slowly now, excitement and nervousness drumming through her heart and tingling her fingers, leaving her thoughts fuzzy and her tongue dry. She slipped into a sparse covering of trees to give herself the illusion of some sort of protection, or element of surprise, wishing to first observe from a distance and make sure she wasn't walking into trouble. Inuyasha was always ranting about how trouble seemed to follow her everywhere, and it made her cautious even all these years later. She stopped behind a tree with a wide trunk, gripping the bark and taking a deep breath of its earthy, woody scent before finally peeking carefully around at the source of the magic she'd been blindly searching for all over the world. She was awestruck at the sight before her. Leaned against a large, aged headstone, arm resting atop his raised knee, was man with a face that could nearly rival any youkai she'd ever faced in the past. He was beautiful, his features chiseled and strong, with a balancing softness around his mouth and eyes. He seemed deep in thought, and looked completely human, despite the obvious aura of something "other" that surrounded him. The mystery, the promise of him, began to draw her out of hiding against her bidding. She had not even known she was moving until a crunch of a twig under foot snapped her out of her trance, and drew his piercing attention to her for the first time.

Damon shook himself out of his depressing thoughts and began mustering up the drive to get up and leave. He was just eyeing some of the crows that were flitting around nearby as a possible food source when the sharp sound of a snapping twig alerted him to his company. His eyes shot up immediately, taking in the form of the woman before him. She was small, young, new. He'd never seen her around here before. He stood slowly, brows furrowed, feeling just slightly on the defensive.

"Uh, who the hell are you?" He asked, voice thick with confusion.

Whatever spell had trapped Kagome did not break at the sound of his voice, the wisps of his inhuman aura simply carried her forward toward him at a slow, steady pace. She stopped inches in front of him, his eyes wide and one brow lifted toward his hairline. She reached out, running her hand through the shimmering aura surrounding him that only she could see, confusing Damon further. She smiled the most brilliant smile he'd ever seen, causing his confusion to reach new heights. Tears streamed down Kagome's cheeks as she watched the magic of him bounce and spark off of her hand.

"It's _YOU_." She whispered reverently as her tears continued to track down her face. Damon felt himself lose any tiny grasp he may have had on the situation. He cast his mind back as far as he was able to try and remember this girl. _Surely_ he'd met her before if _this_ was her reaction to finding him, but for the life of him he couldn't remember her from anywhere. Just as he was about to repeat his earlier question, his own eyes widened in horror as hers rolled back and she fainted forward into him. He caught her to keep her from falling to the ground, looking around to see if there was anyone else around who could explain to him just what the hell was happening to him. Finally he scooped her up and rolled his eyes, before heading back in the direction of Sefan and Elena's. maybe _they_ knew who this mystery chick was. He looked down once more on the face of the girl he was now "rescuing" to see if anything about her rang any bells as he exited the cemetery, but once again he couldn't deny that he had well and truly never seen this woman before, anywhere, in his life.

"Maybe I should count myself lucky that I didn't get outright attacked this time, but dammit, that was weird."


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own any character or location associated with The Vampire Diaries or InuYasha: A Fuedal Fairy Tale._

 **A.N.: Hello! I know it hasn't been THAT long but it has been longer than I would like, so I'm totally sorry. I'm currently spawning my second little human, and it's been sucking every last spare particle of energy form me. On top of that, everyone in my house has been sick (My husband has the flu.) So It's been pretty chaotic over here. Things are starting to slow down though, so I was able to get this out. Not very exciting, and much shorter than I had originally planned, but I wanted to get _something_ out! Next update will be faaaaar better, promise! **

With his arms full, Damon had to kick the door in front of him to alert those inside to his arrival. When the door opened several moments later, The looks of confusion on Stefan and Elena's faces were _almost_ humorous.

"Uhhh... help?" He said, to break them out of their bemused stupor, and they immediately stepped aside for him to enter.

"Here," Elena gestured, "you can put her on the couch."

"What did you do this time, Damon?" Stefan asked, an edge of exasperation in his voice.

"What makes you think I had anything to do with this?" Stefan and Elena both shot him wry looks in answer, and he scoffed as he laid the unconscious woman down on the couch.

"Fine. Don't answer that. But I'll have you know _she_ assaulted _me_ before she just... passed out. And I don't even know who she is, so don't even _ask_ if I've done something to her before."

"You don't even know who she is? Are you sure?" Elena asked incredulously, finding it hard to believe that Damon would find himself in such a mess with a complete stranger. He had, after all, offended enough people in one way or another that it wasn't totally out of the norm for him to be approached randomly by someone coming to exact payment. She pushed her confusion aside and fetched a blanket to cover the stranger on her couch with.

"She just looks like a young girl. What would she want with you?" Stefan asked, shooting his brother a look that was a mix of suspicion and bewilderment.

"My roguish good looks, my devilish charm, a chance for a taste of the dark side? Pick one, they're all equally valid." Stefan merely rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen for a glass of water for the girl when she woke up.

"Think Damon," Elena said as she cornered him with an expectant look. "Are you _sure_ you've never seen her or talked to her before? Is it possible you just don't remember? You _do_ tend to get around." Damon tried not to feel offended at her accusation, as true as it was. That was, after all, who he hoped would one day be the 'Old Damon.'

"I'm telling you, I've never seen her before. Anywhere. She was just _there,_ out of nowhere, and she looked possessed. Then she fainted. I have no idea."

"Could she be a witch? A vampire hunter?" Stefan asked as he placed the glass of water on the little table next to the couch. Before Damon could answer, a groan from the couch drew all of there attention, and they held their breath as the lump under the covers sat and clutched her forehead.

"Uuuuugh. What happened?" Elena smiled kindly and made her way over, sitting on the edge of the couch and picking up the glass of water. She handed it to the girl before her, who took it warily.

"Hello, I'm Elena. It's nice to meet you."

Kagome, now realizing she was in a room she'd never seen before with several people she didn't know, looked suspiciously around at all three of them.

"Who the hell are you people? How did I get here? What do you want?" That's when she noticed that she did, in fact, recognize one of the faces staring at her. The guy from the cemetery, the ones who's inhuman aura had called to her.

"YOU!" She cried, pointing to him with her free hand.

"So you _do_ know Damon?" The other guy standing next to him asked, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. "I thought you said you didn't know her Damon."

"No I don't know him, I've never met him. Did you bring me here? Is this a kidnapping?! I'd heard Americans were crazy, but this-" Elena's giggles cut off her shreiking, and she clicked her jaw shut and furrowed her brows. "What's funny about a kidnapping?"

"Nothing it's just, Damon says _you_ assaulted _him_."

" _WHAT?!_ I would _never_! I don't even know him!"

"Now don't say that, Princess, because it certainly _looked_ like you were trying to assault me." The man-who-was-not-a-man, supposedly named Damon, replied with a smirk that made her want to slap him.

"It certainly did _not_! And don't call me Princess!"

"Oh? So you _weren't_ trying to grope me before you fainted at the sight of me?"

 _"GROPE YOU?!_ No! I was- I was just feeling your- URGH you know what? I don't owe you any explanation. In fact, I'm leaving."

Kagome made to stand and walk out the door, but her abrupt change of altitude caused her head to spin. The floor teetered under her and she tilted forward. Suddenly she found herself wrapped in a pair of strong arms. She looked up into the smirking face of the man who had been taunting her, in one way or another, since she'd driven into this blasted town. She marveled at how quickly he'd crossed the room to catch her, as not even Elena, who was sitting only a couple feet away, had had time to assist her.

"Super speed...awesome." She muttered under her breath, and the look of alarm on his face almost made up for how much he'd embarrassed her, but then it settled into a look of guarded determination that set her on edge.

"Come on. I'll walk you back to the cemetery." And with that he led her out the door, leaving a confused Stefan and Elena behind them.

* * *

"Alright Princess, tell me what you know, and how you know it. And how you know _me_."

Kagome growled at him for the "Princess" comment again, but let it slide in order to answer his questions. His aura had grown agitated, and she could tell that this ordeal had made him uncomfortable. Perhaps his friends back there didn't know he wasn't human? She'd have to reassure him she meant no harm.

"My name is Kagome. I traveled here from Japan to look for people who aren't completely human. I could tell by your aura that you are... something. I don't know what, since I've never encountered an aura like yours before."

"You're looking for people who aren't human? Why?" Kagome took a moment to consider her answer, and how much she should reveal to this stranger. He'd think she was crazy if she came straight out with the time traveling and world saving.

"I used to have many friends who were of the supernatural persuasion, and I miss them. I just... don't really belong with humans anymore. I just wanted to know I wasn't alone." Damon cast her a sidelong glance. The look on her far was sincere enough, but with all the trouble that found its way here, he was hesitant to accept that she might be here for completely benevolent reasons just yet.

"I promise I don't mean any harm. I've traveled all over the world, and you're the first person I've encountered so far that has any magic in their aura. I... may have gotten a little excited... that's probably why I fainted. Which is totally embarrassing, sorry. Thanks for not leaving me in the dirt, though!"

Damon gave her a little grin before relaxing just a little. "And I'm sorry for accusing you of kidnapping me, oh handsome, chivalrous Damon, that was so unfair!"

She giggled at his joke and the tinkling sound of it tickled in his ears and brought a genuine smile to his face.

"Alright _fine_. I'm sorry I accused you of kidnapping me. There!" Kagome grudgingly replied, trying not to hum out of the sheer happiness that was thrumming through her soul. She'd been _right_! There were others out there! She'd _found_ someone! She wondered what her mother would say, if she'd be happy for her. She'd have to call her soon.

"So care to explain the air groping?" Damon interrupted her glowing thoughts, his shameless smirk firmly back in place. Kagome felt her face darken. She was sure she'd completely disappear into Inuyasha's suikan right now if he'd been here.

"Uhhhh th-that that was... um.. I just..."

"Yeeeees?"

"You just have a really pretty aura okay?! Oh my god!"

"So you were... groping my _aura?_ "

" _YES!_ Essentially that is... what I was doing." Kagome slapped her hands to her cheeks to hide their burning color, though she knew that it was useless.

"Alright well what the hell is an aura?"

Kagome stopped cold, staring at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"What? You mean you can't see it?" The thought had never occurred to her. The only people she'd known who couldn't see, or at least sense, another's aura had been her regular, powerless human friends.

"No. I can't. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Your aura is... your soul."

"My _soul_? I still have one of those?" Damon asked, thoroughly shocked. Since he was technically dead, he, and all vampires really, just assumed that if they'd ever had a soul, they certainly didn't have one now. He was almost afraid to wonder what his must look like after all he'd done in his life, until he remembered that she'd said his aura was "pretty."

"Why wouldn't you? All living things have a soul. You're alive aren't you?"

"Uhhh... apparently more than I thought."

Kagome looked ready to ask more questions, questions he wasn't sure he was ready to answer. He'd just have to distract her. He stopped walking and turned to face her, fixing his familiar smirk in place and crossing his arms over his chest. "Since you know about the 'super speed,' how about we run the rest of the way?"

"Really?!" Kagome asked excitedly. It had been forever since she'd traveled so fast, and her heart beat spiked at the thought of getting to relive such a beloved feeling from her past.

"Sure, hop on." Damon replied, turning his back and kneeling slightly to allow Kagome to climb on for a 'piggy back ride' of sorts. She paused at the familiar sight before her, her heart aching for just a moment before she set it aside and climbed on Damon's back. As soon as she was secure, he took off, arriving at the cemetery only moments later. She slid off laughing, clutching her middle as happiness rushed through her. She had gown scared that she would never feel this level of happiness again. She turned toward Damon and gestured toward the other side of the cemetery.

"My car's over there, but before I go, we should... what's the American slang? Chillax? Yeah that's it. We should 'chillax' soon."

Damon grimaced; no one said chillax. But he did take a moment to consider her offer. What else did he have to do, besides sit in the cemetery and _brood_? Nothing. And she _was_ interesting, at least.

"Can't say I'm surprised you'd like another dose of Damon." She merely smiled good naturedly at him, something that looked a lot like hope shimmering behind her sapphire eyes. He had no history with this girl, nothing to complicate any friendship between them. There was no heavy air of what "once was" laying thick around them, and he really couldn't say that he didn't' like the idea of being able to just relax around someone who didn't know enough about him to always be looking over there shoulder with him. It was like the new start he'd been trying for had just... fallen right in front of him. Literally.

"Alright Princess, we can 'chillax.'

She squealed and clapped before enveloping him in a crushing hug that surprised him. She was so small, but deceptively strong. Before he could do anything else, she was dashing off to her car, "thanks again see ya later Damon BYYEEE!" Floating behind her as she turned the corner out of his sight. He shook his head and made his way toward his own house, not really wanting to be subjected to another round of _"what did you do this time, Damon?"_ from Stefan and Elena. It had been a long, strange day anyway. He'd like to get his head back on straight before meeting with Kagome again. He was certain things with her wouldn't ever be very normal. He was proven very right when she pounced on him on his way to Stefan and Elena's just the next morning.

That was the start of the weirdest friendship Damon had ever known.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or locations associated with The Vampire Diaries or InuYasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale._

Damon made his way peacefully to see his brother and Elena. He knew they'd have questions about yesterday and if he didn't go to _them_ , they'd just come to _him_. He'd rather do this in _their_ house. He walked steadily along in the quiet of the morning. Even though he had a car, lately he preferred walking here and there whenever he could. He was trying to slow down and learn to enjoy things like this, like nature. He could vaguely remember doing things like this once, when he was young, before a cruel woman twisted his heart and turned him inside out. He was ripped from his distracting and depressing thoughts by the weight of a small body thrown against his back, slender arms wrapping around his shoulders and throwing him slightly off balance.

"GOTCHA!" A light, feminine voice chirped in his hear, and he relaxed as he recognized it as the bizarre girl who'd plummeted into his life just yesterday.

"What the hell? Where did you come from?!"

"From over there!" She replied, pointing to a clump of trees she'd apparently been hiding behind.

"How did you... I didn't hear you..?"

"I am well practiced in the art of stealth hunting! Why would you have heard me, hmmmm? Do you have super hearing Mr. Damon?" Her cheeky, impish expression brought the smallest of smiles to his own face.

"Something like that. How long have you been hiding there?"

"Oh not long. I went back to the cemetery to see if I'd run into you again, and felt your aura and followed it here. You were very distracted. You're lucky it was just me this time."

"You have no idea." he replied enigmatically, causing Kagome to wonder at the kind of people he might know. She shrugged the thought off, wanting to keep things light.

"Super speed, super hearing... do you have super strength too? Are you a super hero?"

Damon laughed outright at _that_ thought, and the way his face lit up and his eyes crinkled shut made warmth fill Kagome's heart. He'd seemed so... melancholy, despite most of his sarcasm. She was pleased that she could help draw out some of his good humor.

"Sorry to disappoint, Princess, but I am far from a super hero."

He watched her nose wrinkle cutely at his now permanent nickname for her and smirked. She was fun to rile up.

"Whatever. So where'ya goin'?"

"Remember those people you met yesterday? That's my brother and... his wife. I was going to see them."

"Your brother? But... how is he not..."

"Long story." He cut off her confusion before he had to spill the nitty gritty to her just yet. It would only complicate things, and he liked things uncomplicated.

"So he used to be... whatever you are?"

"Yes, they both were."

"So that means whatever you are, you can be turned human. And you have super speed, super strength, and super hearing... Interesting."

Damon took a moment to think before throwing all caution to the wind and deciding that he'd done enough "thinking" to last a long while.

"Ya know, I've been lectured enough by those two to last me four lifetimes. Why don't we go see what kind of trouble we can find?"

Kagome giggled, excited at the prospect of getting to hang out with her new friend.

"Oh I don't think we'll need to go looking, trouble has a way of finding me on it's own."

"Is that so?" He asked, as they made their way to Kagome's car.

"Oh yeah, I can't even count how many times I've been kidnapped."

Damon thought he'd never known anyone stranger.

* * *

She drug him all over, and they did things he wasn't sure he'd have ever done for anyone else. They went bowling, and she forced him into some of those gross rental shoes. They went to a fair, and she pushed him onto the ancient looking ferries wheel and made him eat fried butter. "For the authentic American experience!" She had pushed. "We don't _actually_ eat fried butter!" He'd argued to no avail. They'd gone to an amusement park where she'd wanted to ride every single roller coaster. She was seemingly fearless, despite her young, tiny appearance, and she was hard to read at times. Sometimes she seemed far, far older than she appeared. Sometimes she seemed like a bouncing child on too much candy. There was an ever present sadness hidden deep in her eyes that he wasn't sure she realized he could see. He wanted to ask, to understand, but she didn't ask _him_ any prying questions, so he returned the favor. And just as he had not offered up any deeper personal info, neither had she. For all it was worth, they really were just "hanging out" and having fun.

As he suspected, this did not sit well with his brother. Any time he saw him it was the same barrage of questions. "Have you told her the truth yet? You're not sleeping with her are you? Damon, she's so young, you need to be careful. And you need to tell her the truth, about you, before someone gets hurt."

After three weeks of brushing him off, he decided he should probably remind Stefan which of them was the _baby_ brother.

"Just shut it Stefan, alright? _No_ , I haven't told her anything. We're just friends anyway, I don't have to tell her every dark and dirty secret I have yet. I've been taking care of myself long enough to know what I'm doing, baby brother. So back the hell off."

Stefan raised his hands in surrender, dropping the subject for now. Perhaps he had overstepped a few boundaries.

"Alright, fine." He sighed, dropping his hands and smiling sadly. "I'm just worried about you. Elena and I both are. And if something is happening here..."

"There's nothing happening, Stefan, and for once, I'm glad. She's a genuine friend, and she's fun, and it's all terribly, shockingly innocent. Weren't you needling me a month ago about needing some _friends_?"

Stefan chuckled at his brother's discomfiture. His "mother hen-ing" could be a bit much, he knew that. He just wanted to make sure that his brother wasn't getting himself into more trouble. He believed Damon deserved something good in his life, after all, and didn't want to see him screw it up by... well, by being _Damon_.

Damon figured he was at least right about telling Kagome the truth soon. She had said that she used to have friends who weren't human, and she knew that he was, at least, not exactly human himself. But she had no idea just what kind of creature she was spending all of her time with, and he wasn't sure he was ready to risk her finding out. He _liked_ that when she looked at him, she didn't look worried or wary. She accepted him, at least, she accepted what she knew of him, and he liked it. It felt _nice_ to have someone just be fine with him and who he was. And though he'd reassured Stefan that they were, in fact, just friends, he couldn't deny that he found her almost enchanting. She was beautiful of course, but there was a sparkle in her, if a little dulled by whatever sadness she harbored, that he could scarcely look away from sometimes. It frightened him a little, but he was still a little selfish, so he had every intention of hiding his "deepest darkest secrets" if it meant keeping her friendship just a little longer.

* * *

"Alright. Here we are. The closest karaoke bar to Mystic Falls."

"Yay! Oh this is going to be a BLAST! And if you think for one second you aren't getting up on that stage you are _wrong_!"

Damon rolled his eyes and locked the car, following behind a bouncing, jittery Kagome at a much more sedate pace.

"Aren't you Japanese? Isn't this a little, I don't know, stereotypical?"

"Oh hush! Who cares? It's _FUN_! And you aren't getting out of it, mister, so shut it!"

They found a small, empty table and sat to watch the the few "performances" that were currently in line before them. Damon watched Kagome get tipsy on vodka shots ( _"well it isn't sake, but it'll do"_ ) before racing up to the stage to mangle the lyrics of an old 80s song that had probably made its way all over the world. When she was done, she came bag to drag _him_ on stage for his turn, laughing hysterically and stumbling all the way.

"Your turn! No buts! Impress me."

And that was how he found himself standing on a dingy stage, lights blinding his super sensitive eyes, mic in hand. Luckily she'd chosen a song that he knew, so this wasn't as embarrassing as it could have been. He tried spotting her in the crowd. He figured she'd be laughing merrily at him and her eyes would be sparkling and he'd feel that subtle rush he always felt when they did that in his direction. But that was not what he saw when he finally spotted her. She was visibly upset and uncomfortable, a man neither of them knew crowding her space and grabbing her hands as she tried to push him back. Without thinking, he put the mic down and dropped off the front of the stage, making a beeline for the table she had settled at. He yanked the guy back away from her, and spun around to face him, planting himself firmly in front of a highly agitated Kagome.

"I can tell you're a stupid bastard, but I'm sure even _you_ know the meaning of the words _get lost_." The guy grumbled under his breath and sulked off, and Damon took a few breaths to calm his raging anger before turning back around to take a seat.

"Are you alright? I'm so sorry about that, he-"

Kagome sighed a deep, sorrowful sigh, slumping down in her seat and sloshing the liquid around in the mixed drink she'd been sipping on.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He surprised me, or else he'd be flat on his ass right now."

She smiled over at an unsure Damon, reaching over to clasp the hand closest to her on the table.

"Thanks for helping me. I told you trouble likes to find me." She said with a slight chuckle, a small smile finally making its way on to Damon's face. That smile dropped rather quickly and his eyes widened when a voice behind them piped up over the music that had resumed after Damon's abandoned karaoke song.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Damon Salvatore."

"Shit." Damon mumbled before looking over his shoulder at the source of that familiar voice. Ah yes, just as he suspected. Another ghost from his rather sordid past, come to haunt him once more. This woman was human, and he could see from the lines beginning on her face the many years that had passed since he'd waltzed into her life, like he'd done to so many others, and probably made a mess of it.

She walked up to the table and sneered at the sight of Kagome's hand still on his. He pulled away and crossed his arms again, trying not to feel self conscious. She smirked at Kagome, a smug, self satisfied look on her face that didn't sit well with him at all.

"Careful with this one honey, he's nothing but trouble to young little thing like you."

He was about to speak up, tell her to leave his friend alone, maybe even apologize. But Kagome's retort silenced him.

"Young? Well thank you sweetheart, it's been a while since I was considered young. And perhaps it is _him_ who should be careful of _me_. You don't know me at all, or the kinds of wickedness I get up too."

Irritated at being shut down in her attempts to cause upset, the woman of his past merely shrugged and disappeared, and he prayed silently that no others would be here, waiting in the shadows to pounce and remind him of his less than stellar life choices so far.

"Lets go," Kagome said, interrupting his dark thought. "I don't really feel much line singing anymore"

They settled in the car and headed back in the direction of Mystic Falls. Damon felt the need to say something, anything to cut the tension that had formed between them, but he wasn't sure if anything he could come up with would be adequate. Once again, Kagome beat him to the punch.

"She had no right, you know? That was so rude. I'm sorry if she ruined your mood."

Damon was stunned. He remembered a similar instance of this happening with Elena what seemed like a lifetime ago. He didn't recall it going quite like this.

"She was right though. I _am_ trouble. Or I used to be."

"I was right to. It _has_ been a while since I was considered young. And I can get up to my own trouble just fine."

"What do you mean it's been a while since you've been young? How old _are_ you?"

"Older than I look."

It was certainly a less than satisfactory answer to a question that had been burning his curiosity for weeks, but he wouldn't push any further tonight.

"Me too."

The silence that settled between them was much more comfortable this time, and it remained so until they pulled up into the parking lot of the little motel where Kagome had been staying. She tensed at the sight of the fire truck that took up most of the parking lot, and watched in horror as the police taped off the front of the building to keep anyone from entering their rooms. Once parked, she leapt from the car, Damon following quickly behind. She approached the nearest cop, asking what was going on and why the doors were being blocked.

"Burst water main, whole building is drenched. We gotta shut the place down for repairs. Sorry miss, you'll have to find new lodgings in the next town."

"But my stuff! All my stuff is in there!"

"Everything that could be salvaged has been piled over there."

She raced over to the pile, which was maddeningly small, and dug through until she found her blessedly dry lap top case and nothing else.

"What am I going to DO?! The next town?! All the rest of my stuff is ruined! Will they even be giving me a refund? Until my next check comes in I don't even have the funds to rent a new room!"

Damon scratched the back of his head, wondering if making this offer would be weird, or too much, but watching his friend, who was usually so confident and bright, slip into panicked despair ate away at him. So he once again threw caution to the wind and made a leap.

"Uh, you could... stay with me."

"What?" Kagome turned to him dumbfounded, unsure if she'd heard him right."

"I live in a really big house, I have plenty of extra rooms. And it's just me, so you'll have a lot of space. It's just an idea."

"Are... are you sure?" She asked tentatively, not wanting to intrude if he was just being polite.

"Yeah, unless you're worried I might take advantage of you." He smirked and winked in an exaggeratedly flirty manner. Kagome giggled, feeling better about his offer.

"As if. I've fought of scarier monsters than _you_ , Damon Salvatore. Now let's go, I'm EXHAUSTED!"

Damon smiled after her as she walked back to his car, trying to once again ignore the slight fluttering in his heart at the sight of her smile.

 **A.N.: I really mean no offense with any stereotypes that may exist about Japanese people and karaoke, I just wanted to make Damon sing lol Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or locations in either The Vampire Diaries or InuYasha, A Feudal Fairy Tail._

" _KAMI-SAMA_. This is where you live?!"

"Yep, home sweet home." Damon replied as he slipped his key in the lock and opened the door.

"By _yourself_?!"

"Uh-huh. Just me since Stefan and Elena moved out."

"You said you had a big house."

"This is a big house."

" _no_ , this is a _mansion_. A _creepy_ mansion! Is it haunted?"

"Just by me."

Kagome shot him a nasty glare.

"That's not funny."

Damons smirk told her that he did not agree. He quickly traded his amusement in for confusion when he watched Kagome close her eyes in the still open door way, a look of deep concentration on her face. Suddenly he felt something hit his chest and wash through him, sending sparks and tingles up his spine and leaving his arm hears standing on end.

"Damn, Sparky! What the hell was that?"

Kagome's eyes cracked open, and she smirked devilishly as she passed him and sat her lap top case on the couch.

"I like Sparky much better than Princess. And you're right, you _are_ the only creep haunting this place." She sighed and sat down, rubbing her hand over her face and through her hair. "Now what am I gonna do? All the rest of my stuff is gone. You don't know any good places to shop around here do you?"

"Uh, no? I could call Elena tomorrow and have her help you, if you want, though."

Her radiant, answering smile made his face feel warm, and he was glad they hadn't turned any significant lights on yet.

"Thank you Damon, I'd like that. Well, goodnight!" She skipped towards the stairs and he quickly called after her.

"Just take any room, I don't really care which."

He followed the sound of her footsteps up the stairs and across the floor before making his way to his backdoor. He was pretty hungry, and with any luck he'd be able to find something other than raccoons out at this hour.

* * *

Kagome descended the stairs the next morning feeling much better about her current circumstances. A good night's sleep had done wonders for her stress levels, and she was thankful for her years in the feudal era making her used to wearing the same clothes for more than a day. She stopped in confusion, however, when she walked into the living room to find Damon asleep on the couch.

He was also in yesterday's clothes, his arms crossed under his chest and his face soft with sleep. She marveled at how positively _boyish_ he looked, and something in her heart softened just a little bit as she took in his peaceful features, the steady rise and fall of his chest, his hair mussed with sleep. She felt a little guilty seeing him this way. Maybe she hadn't been paying much attention, but she could recognize, now, that there was something in Damon that was sad, maybe a little unsure. She had always prided herself in being able to tell when her friends were upset, so how had she missed the fact that her newest friend, that she spent so much time with, had a shadow in his eyes that weighed down his smile? Perhaps it was because he had _always_ looked that way, at least since she had met him. In any case, she was determined now to bring up his spirits and erase that little bit of darkness.

Just then, the very object of her scrutiny yawned and stretched, his eyes just cracking open enough to see her standing there. He gave her a sleepy little smile and closed his eyes again. She felt her heart do a funny little flip, and she studiously ignored it.

"Why are you sleeping on the couch?"

Damon cracked one eye open at her again, before closing it and shrugging.

"You ended up picking _my_ room."

Kagome felt her cheeks burn. Her embarrassment prickled her skin and made her palms sweat.

"Oh kami. I'm... I'm so sorry! You said _any_ room! I didn't... oh KAMI!"

Damon's answering chuckle was crackly with the sleep that still hung heavily over him. It made Kagome's heart do another little flip, and she scowled and rubbed her hand over chest.

"It's fine, Kagome." He sat up and rubbed his eyes, and Kagome suddenly felt embarrassed to see him so... vulnerable.

"I'll call Elena now. Good morning, by the way."

He smiled up at her and his mussed hair and sleep squinted eyes made her cheeks burn all over again.

"I'll uh... I'll go make breakfast!"

She dashed off to the kitchen and hid herself behind toast and eggs.

* * *

A knock on the door drew Kagome's attention away from her laptop screen. She met Damon's eyes as he passed her to open the door, quirking his eyebrows at her and giving her a tiny grin. She tried not to squirm uncomfortably. This _really_ shouldn't be making her feel so weird, but it was so They were both adults sharing a living space. Roommates, that was all, but maybe she should have thought about this a little more. That nasty 'Kagome Optimism' got her into so much trouble. This time it had moved her right in with a guy, a _HOTT_ guy, lest she forget, without even stopping to think that it might be... a little weird.

Her attention finally turned outward to notice that the supernatural aura that she always felt here, thanks to Damon, felt a little stronger than usual. She turned towards the door and watched it open, taking notice of a pretty blonde woman on the other side. She carried the same type of aura as Damon, which meant that they were the same, and _not_ human.

"Oh god. It's you. What do want, Blondie?"

"Oh, don't act like you aren't _ecstatic_ to see me Damon. Elena sent me, she couldn't come today."

"Great. Splendid. _What_ could _possibly_ go wrong?"

"Oh hush. Now, where is this-"

"HI! Oh hi! It's so nice to meet you, I'm Kagome!"

"I'm... I'm Caroline. It's nice to meet you..."

Kagome shook her hand, turning to give Damon a huge, nearly crazed smile and a squeal of excitement. _ANOTHER ONE._ Another person she'd found who was _not_ completely bound to mortality. She couldn't contain her happiness if she tried. She missed the indulgent smile that Damon gave her in return, but Caroline did not.

"Right, well. Let's get going! Shop till we drop!"

* * *

Kagome looked at the jeans she had just put on in the dressing room mirror. The pockets twinkled as the harsh department store lights glinted off the rhinestones embedded in the fabric. Caroline certainly had interesting taste.

"So," the voice of her new blonde friend sounded from the other side of the door, "how long have you and Damon..."

"How long have me and Damon, what?" She asked innocently, knowing exactly what Caroline was looking for.

"You know. Been a... thing?"

Kagome giggled, taking off the weird, glitzy jeans and picking up a much tamer pair to try.

"We're not."

"But you're living together?"

"The hotel I was staying in flooded and Damon offered to let me stay in one of his extra rooms. We're friends, he was being nice."

"Damon. Nice. Here, try these." A large stack of clothes was slung across the top of the dressing room door, dozens of hangers clicking together managing to stifle Kagome's groan. She hated this part of shopping.

"He's been nice to _me._ "

"I'm sure. Damon can certainly be nice when he _wants_ to be, usually when he wants something. How were those one jeans?! The really cute ones with the gems?!"

Kagome grimaced down at the jeans in question. There was no way she was walking out of here with those.

"Oh, they were way to short, sorry Caroline."

"Dang. Oh well, maybe I'll get them! Anyway, just be careful. I've known Damon for a while. He can be a good guy...sometimes. But he can also be very selfish. I thought Elena would never get over him, they were so bad for each other."

Kagome's eyes widened in shock. Damon and.. _ELENA?_ Stefan's wife? Damon's _SISTER-IN-LAW_? Surely she'd heard wrong... was that the sadness in Damon's eyes? Did he still love his brother's wife?

She heard Caroline shuffling around outside and knew she needed to say something.

"Uh, you don't have to worry, you know. I can take care of myself. And I have lots of experience dealing with moody, unpredictable guys." She said with a roll of her eyes, memories of Inuyasha and his awkwardness and pension for tantrums playing over in her mind. Oh yes, she had plenty of experience with difficult men.

"And I'm really much, much older than I look. I won't be taken advantage of."

"Well good. Hey, put on that blue dress, I want to see how it looks with your eyes!"

Kagome sighed. It was going to be a long shopping trip.

* * *

Finally back after an all day excursion with Caroline dragging her all over, stuffing her in every last article of clothing they could find before Kagome forced her to focus on _other_ essentials that she was in need of, Kagome collapsed on the couch with a deep groan, shopping bags scattered around her in heaps and piles. Damon leaned against a nearby wall, and amused grin on his face.

"I see you had fun with the endless fount of energy that is Caroline Forbes." Kagome didn't even spare him the barest of glances, even her eyelids too heavy in her fatigue.

"Endless fount of energy is right. She's so nice but she's _so_ bubbly. I think I'll need to hibernate for the rest of the week."

"That's Caroline. If I didn't know any better I'd think she was an _energy_ vampire instead of a regular one."

"She's a vampire?"

Damon felt his whole body run cold. _'Uh oh.'_

He'd forgotten that she could 'sense auras.' She probably just _knew_ that he and Caroline were the same type of being. He hadn't been sure he was ready to tell her, but it seems the cat was already out of the bag.

"Damon, does that mean _you_ are a vampire?" Kagome observed the way Damon stared at the floor, unease twisting in his aura and creasing his forehead. He cleared his throat and met her eyes, and Kagome nearly gasped at what she saw there. A challenge... and uncertainty.

"Yes. I am. I'm a vampire."

"Okay."

Damon looked at her as if she'd grown a second and third head right in front of him and she cocked her head to the side in question.

"Okay?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?"

Damon mentally flailed. This was going... much better than he thought.

"I guess I expected you to be a little more, I don't know, screechy?"

"You mean scared?"

"Sure."

"Damon, I told you once, I've faced much scarier monsters than you."

He searched her face. She appeared as confident as she always did, serene even. She really wasn't alarmed, or frightened, or angry. Well. Maybe it was time for him to learn a few more things about her, then.

"What does that mean, Kagome?"

She sighed and slumped against the couch, a sad, dreamy smile lifting the corners of her lips.

"I'm not sure you'd even believe me."

He snorted. After everything he'd seen he'd probably believe anything.

"Try me."

She met his eyes again, looking tired and much, much older than she usually looked.

"Alright. Have a seat Damon."

She turned to face to other end of the couch, hugging her knees as Damon sat opposite her on the furthest cushion. She could tell she had his full attention. She gave him a shaky smile before closing her eyes and sighing a deep sigh. It seemed tonight was "sharing night." She would oblige, she had a few questions for him, in any case."

"20 years ago, when I was 15 years old, I fell down a well and ended up 500 years in the past. I found a boy, pinned to a tree by an arrow through the heart. I woke him up. He saved me from a demon that ripped a dangerous jewel from my side. His name was Inuyasha and he... he was not completely human."

Damon listened, spellbound, as Kagome wove her tale. A fantastical journey to piece back together a broken gem and defeat a great evil. He could scarcely believe it, but he wasn't going to doubt her. He trusted her. _That_ was a shocking revelation all its own, trusting someone the way he trusted her. And he was learning so much more about her. So many things began to make sense. He waited with bated breath as she paused, collecting her emotions and taking a cleansing breath before she continued.

"After the battle, when the jewel was complete, Inuyasha came to me and he asked me... he asked me to give him Kikyo back. And I... I loved him. He didn't love me, but I loved him, so much, so I did it. I used the jewel to give him the woman he loved. The woman I _used_ to be, and could never measure up to. The jewel wanted me to protect it for the rest of my life in exchange. I didn't know what it meant then. It wasn't until far, far later that I figured it out. It didn't want me to protect it for the rest of my _natural_ life. It wanted me to protect it _forever_. So it took my humanity, after already taking so much, ripped me from all the friends I'd made and loved so much, and left me alone and adrift in a time I didn't belong to anymore, surrounded by people who would pass me by while I remained just like this, forever."

"You're... you're immortal."

"Yes."

Damon was fairly gobsmacked. He'd known there was something different about her, that she appeared younger than she was for some reason. But immortality was not something he'd considered. _He_ was immortal, but _he_ wasn't human. Maybe she wasn't either, anymore. Not completely. He felt terrible for her, for all she'd survived. He felt like he understood her in a way he'd never understood anyone else. He felt like he had won the lottery.

"I'm immortal, too." He said softly. She peered up at him through her lashes, and in her eyes he saw vulnerability, trust, and a faint spark of hope. He felt the same.

He grew uneasy, however, when an edge of mischief glinted back at him as well.

"Alright, Damon Salvatore, it's your turn in the hot seat. How did your ex-girlfriend end up married to your brother?"

Well. Shit.

"Christ, Caroline, you can't keep that big mouth shut for anything." He groaned, scrunching his face up in agitation. This was a rather awkward aside he would _really_ rather not have to have. Kagome chuckled softly, and he felt her hand rest on his. He resisted the urge to lace his fingers with hers.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I understand if it still hurts." Her smile was so sincere, so earnest and breath taking that he couldn't have denied her if his life had depended on it and _'fuck me, I think I'm in more trouble than I thought.'_

"No, it's fine. It's more awkward now than anything else. And it's just as long of a story as yours, I'm afraid."

"Well we're up this late! And apparently we have forever, so get talkin'"

He rolled his eyes before settling in more comfortably, casting his mind back to his long ago human days, when he'd been a different person entirely.

"Alright. The beginning then. I was born ... nearly 150 years ago? I was human. It was mostly just me and Stefan, who is much younger. Our father was an asshole and our mother was gone, so I did a lot to make sure Stefan was exposed to as little as possible. We were always really close, all growing up, until we met Katherine..."

It was Kagome's turn to listen spellbound. Damon's life had, so far, been filled with a lot of loss. And as angsty as her situation with Inuyasha had been, she couldn't imagine the pain of being strung along with her own sibling, and _twice_ being rejected by _almost_ the same woman for his brother. Many people had tried to warn her, so far, about Damon's supposed "reputation." She could understand now. He _hadn't_ been very sweet to very many people. But she could understand why. Underneath Damon's wit and sarcasm and smirks and eyebrows, was just a boy. A troubled boy who wanted to be loved.

Now where had she seen that before?


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N.: I've been trying to post this for 2 days :B**

Kagome walked bleary eyed into the kitchen, still in her pajamas and bun she'd slept in the night before. Her neckline had fallen askew and several escaped strands of hair framed her face. She went straight for the coffee machine she'd bought, since Damon didn't already have one. As she stirred the sugar in, she heard Damon's deep chuckling from somewhere behind her. He'd probably been laughing at her the whole time and she hadn't even known he was in there.

"Morning princess."

She stuck her tongue out at him childishly, his continued use of that hated nickname just barely grating on her still sleeping nerves.

"What are _you_ doing up so early?" She asked him accusingly, taking a huge gulp of her coffee and not even wincing as it burned all the way down. He chuckled again

"It's ten o'clock."

"It is?! How?!"

"Well we _were_ up pretty late."

She groaned and laid her head on the counter, and Damon silently refilled her coffee cup. She raised her head to thank him, and noticed something at the corner of his mouth. She reached up and wiped it off with the pad of her thumb, not noticing his dawning look of alarm.

"You've got something... I think it's blood."

"Shit." He murmured, going to the sink and wetting a napkin to wipe at his mouth. He was sure he'd gotten all the evidence of his morning meal off before she'd come down.

"It's alright Damon, you don't have to be embarrassed. When you told me you were a vampire, I _assumed_ that meant you need blood at some point."

He met her eyes, which were calm and reassuring as she sipped on her coffee. He felt both worried and silly. He hated being so self conscious about himself still. He hated fearing he would send her running by just being himself. He hated how much he wanted, _needed_ her to just accept him.

"I only drink animal blood. I mean used to... but now I only drink animal blood."

"Okay. Is that why you've never tried to drink from me? I was starting to wonder if I smelled or something."

Her ease and ability to joke about such a thing made him feel a bunch of things at once.

"What?"

"Oh nothing." She giggled and smiled impishly up at him and he narrowed his eyes in challenge.

"You don't _stink_ , but you smell like coffee, which I've never really liked."

"You jerk!"

He laughed at her, eyes sparkling, and she felt her heart do that funny thing again. She cleared her throat and tried not to think of it.

"Anything interesting happening today?"

"Well, I imagine at this point either Caroline or Elena have had to inform dear mother Stefan of our new living arrangements, so he'll probably stop by to lecture me or something."

"What for?"

"Probably thinks I'm up to something unsavory." He smirked and winked at her she felt her heart betray her again.

"Well are you?" She challenged back. Playing along was safe for now. It meant thinking of responses _to_ what he'd said, instead of thinking _about_ what he'd said.

"Possibly. Maybe you'll find out."

"I don't know. Maybe you _used_ to be hot stuff, but the Damon I know is kind of lame."

He laughed outright, his eyes scrunching closed, and Kagome couldn't help but marvel at how _cute_ he was when he wasn't trying to be all intimidating and smug.

"Well that hurts. I'll be sure to tell my meddling brother that when he comes to interrogate me about my intentions later."

"Speaking of, I should probably go buy some food. There's like, none here at all. I take it you don't need _food_ food?"

"No. I can eat it if I want, so I keep some things around, but no, I don't need it."

"Well since I can't live off of blood, it looks like I'm going to have to get groceries."

* * *

When the door closed behind her, and he was sure she was gone, Damon smiled to himself about how much livelier the place already felt. She'd only been here two days and already it felt less like a tomb and more like a _home_. Not for the first time since her unconventional foray into his life, he was glad he took a chance on the friendship she'd offered him.

 _'Yeah Damon. FRIENDSHIP. Don't get too ahead of yourself._ ' He reminded himself. Being surrounded by her presence all the time these last two days had made a couple of realizations completely unavoidable.

The first being that he _liked_ being with her all the time, knowing that she was just right there and easy to find. He liked it so much that it almost scared him to think that she might not always just be _right there._ But he didn't know how long she'd planned on staying. He wanted to try to convince her to stay, well, forever. Somehow.

The second being that he wasn't so sure anymore that her friendship would always be enough. He certainly tried to convince himself that it was, and if that's all she ever offered, he'd do his best to be fine... but if she ever offered him more... he'd take her in a heartbeat and never let her go again. _This_ he was sure about, but he _wasn't_ sure he wanted her to know yet. One thing to accept a blood sucking predator of the night as a best friend, another to accept one as a lover, or... a husband. _That_ had certainly never been anything to work in his favor in the past.

He shook himself clear of thoughts like _that_ , since they didn't do him any good at all in his current predicament. And it just didn't solve anything to go on being so self conscious all the time. He was starting to get sick of himself.

There was a knock on his door, and only one person it could be. He felt relief for the distraction and irritation for what he _knew_ was to come.

* * *

He eyed his brother leaning against the opposite wall, arms crossed and a look of concern on his face. Damon simply reclined back, arms resting on the back of the couch, projecting all the calm he could muster in the face of his brother's irksome meddling.

"Well go ahead, let me have it."

Stefan sighed and rubbed a hand down his face.

"You moved her in here? You said nothing was going on."

"Nothing _is_ going on. She needed a place to stay, I have like a thousand empty bedrooms, so we're doing a roommate thing."

"This just doesn't seem like a good idea Damon."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, brother."

"It's not that Damon. It's just, I know you've been trying to escape your previous reputation, and I just worry hanging around such a young-"

"She's not even that young Stefan. I already told you that. She's like 35 or something. And she already knows everything about me, so you don't have to worry about _that_ anymore either. Look Stefan, everything's fine. She's fine, I'm fine, this whole arrangement is just fine. You can stop sticking your nose in everything and pretending like I'm not over 150 years old now. I think I might have figured out a few things for myself by now."

Stefan eyed his brother and sighed. He was right, and he knew it. He _had_ been really hard on his brother lately, he just didn't want to see him fall into the same trouble he had before. Elena had been pretty young when they had both met _her_ , and that had been one huge mess that had taken way too long to clean up. But if what his brother said was true...

"Wait, She's 35?"

"Yeah, omething like that."

"How?"

"That's not for me to tell you. But you'd probably be interested to know that she's not the least bit intimidated by me, and she could probably kick my ass. So _honestly_ , you can stop worrying."

"Alright, alright! I get it. Don't want your old brother in your business."

"Thank god, he finally gets it."

For once, the mood between them had lightened considerably, and they felt relaxed in each other's company. And right on time, as the door flung open and a jittery Kagome came bounding in with no shopping bags.

"I'm _HOOOOOME_! Look Damon! Look what I found!" She opened her jacket and revealed a scraggly, splotchy, nearly hairless kitten.

"What the hell is that."

"His name is Takeo, it means 'warrior hero' because he's so big and strong! Isn't he sweet!?"

She dropped the little cat in Damon's lap and he stared at it aghast. _NO_ , he was not sweet. He looked like he'd been chewed up and spit out.

"I thought you were getting groceries..."

"And I _did_! But the local animal shelter had fliers up for discounted adoptions and I just _had_ to go look! And it was on my way home so..."

"Kagome that shelter is on the other side of town." He said flatly, seeing right through her immediately.

"Oh _COME ON_ Damon! He _needed_ me! He was so scared and alone. And this place is too damn big and empty! It's downright creepy! We need a pet!"

He rolled his eyes and sighed, looking back down at the scruffy little kitten kneading it's claws into his stomach.

"Aw see? He loves you already! You two get to know each other, I'll go get the groceries."

She dashed back out the door to the car, and Damon glared at his brother who's face had gone bright red from trying to hold in his hysterical laughter.

"You're right, I was wrong to worry. _You_ probably should, though. She's already got you wrapped around her finger doesn't she?"

"Shut it Stefan."

* * *

Kagome watched Damon dangling the little cat toys she'd bought in front of the new little kitten, her heart doing funny things every time he smiled and scratched it between the ears. He'd certainly put on a good show of being unaffected by the little guy, but he'd warned up even faster than she'd thought. Once he'd fallen asleep on one of Damon's broad shoulders, that had been the end of that. They'd probably be near inseparable soon. She wondered if this had been the wisest of choices. She was _already_ having a hard time not noticing how distracting he could be. She certainly didn't need to be bombarded with real life images of Damon cuddling kittens to complicate things but what was done was done. She cleared her throat, and once she had his attention, gestured awkwardly to the kitchen.

"Dinners done, if you want to come eat. You don't have too Of course! But your welcome to have some if you want..."

"Sure! What is it?"

"It's oden. It's my favorite, something my mom makes all the time. Mine's probably not nearly as good but I haven't had it in a while so I though-"

Damon placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her nervous rambling, though he couldn't think of a single reason she had to be nervous. "I'm sure it's wonderful Kagome. Thanks."

His genuine smile and earnest reassurance helped settle her nerves but not her heart, and she laughed at how ridiculous she was being.

"Well then, shall we?"

They joked and laughed over dinner, at ease and at home. Together.

* * *

Many days passed that way, a comfortable routine settling around them. Kagome finally managed to get passed that initial awkwardness and found that the mansion felt much less creepy and much more homey. Especially when she opened some curtains. They'd had a few snags here and there, like the time she had run into Damon coming out of the closest bathroom in only a towel. She'd squeaked and run off, cheeks aflame and trying her hardest to forget the site of his muscles and the drops of water still clinging to him. Damon had laughed merrily at her and her red cheeks every time they had to be in the same room, but he had, blessedly, started getting dressed _in_ the bathroom after he showered. Or the time she'd drifted downstairs for breakfast half asleep in only an oversized shirt. Damon secretly filed away the information that they seemed to be equally affected by each other. Kagome tried to ignore it all together.

She'd also been right about that cat too, much to Damon's annoyance. He and Takeo _had_ become pretty inseparable. He usually rode around on his shoulder or napped on his lap. His pillow had also become the little kitten's favorite place to sleep at night, and Kagome had joked that she'd have to get another cat since he'd all but stolen Takeo for himself.

He couldn't tell her that the only reason he'd even let himself get attached to it was because he'd taken at as a sign that she was planning on staying, for a while at least. Why else would she move a pet in, right?

She'd stopped asking to go out altogether too. Hadn't made any mention of wanting to in the near future, either. She'd become almost a total home body. When he'd asked her why, her answer had warned his heart.

"I've just been searching for so long for a place to belong That now that I've found one, I don't really feel like leaving."

She'd wanted a place to belong, and she'd found it with him. Hope surged inside him where he hadn't let it before, and she must have noticed a change in him, because he caught her studying him more. He didn't mind having her attention in the least, so he merely met her gaze each time and smiled, which made her blush and look quickly away. It was a little dance he'd grown fond of. He couldn't seem to look away from her either. When she was concentrating and tap-taping away at her stories on her lap top, or scrunching up her face while reading a book, or trying to get him to come watch whatever show she was engrossed in from her lap top, or nagging him about just getting a TV already. There was just something about her that always seemed spectacular and he never wanted to miss it, and he didn't try to hide it anymore when she noticed.

Kagome, on the other hand, was a confused wreck. She was trying to make some kind of logical sense of Damon's new treatment of her, and she was coming up with zero things that didn't confuse her further. He'd been finding little ways to touch her; the small of her back if they were both entering the same room, brushing her hand if they passed in the hall, he'd even brushed her hair behind her ear once or twice. She would catch him looking at her with the softest of looks on his face, and If he caught _her_ staring, he'd simply smile back or wink or get that stupid smug grin that he was so good at. He teased her more, but was also more sincerely sweet, and much less bitingly sarcastic. He saved _that_ side of himself for when his brother, Elena and Caroline came around to sniff and snoop.

She found herself laying awake and gazing blindly at the ceiling one night as she tried to explain it all away as nothing more than a friendship growing more comfortable and intimate. But the last close male friendship she'd had that _didn't_ involve any feelings on either side had been with Miroku, and if he wasn't groping her like he did everyone else, then he'd kept his hands to himself.

She finally drifted off into a fitful, restless sleep, no closer to convincing herself that nothing more was growing and everything was fine.

* * *

 _"Go in blessings my dear one, and rest in the knowledge that you have bought your own happiness this day, for you have made the gods proud."_

Kagome woke with a gasp, the final words of her dream bouncing around in her skull on repeat. It had been months since she'd had that dream. Not since she'd met Damon, in fact, and she wondered why she was having it _now_ and why it had ended _there_ instead of with her fingernails torn and bleeding in the bottom of the well. It had never cut off there before. She blinked hard against the sunlight streaming through her window, trying to clear the confusion making fuzz in her brain. She smelled food, and her stomach churned and growled violently. She figured she could make sense if this after she'd eaten.

She walked down stairs and into the kitchen, and there, at the stove, was Damon. He was wearing her frilly apron and flipping pancakes and she stopped cold right at the kitchen entrance.

"Morning princess!" He greeted with her with a large smile, and she gulped.

"You... you're making breakfast?"

"Yeah." He scratched the back of his neck and looked a little nervous and she gulped again.

"I haven't really cooked in a long time though so... I hope they'll come out okay. You just cook for me all of the time."

"Oh." It was pitiful, but it was all she could muster. She found a seat and he placed the plate in front of her. She began eating, trying to actually taste the pancakes so she could tell him she liked them, but her tongue had turned to ash and she could barely swallow. Her palms began to sweat and she was near a panic. Midoriko's final words echoed once again through her mind, and she suspected, with ever growing dread, that she knew why they'd chosen now to make a reappearance.

She felt Damon's warm hand on her forehead and met his worried gaze.

"Hey, are you alright?"

She swallowed and her mouth was so dry it felt like sand running down her throat.

"Yeah... yeah I'm fine. Just.. I didn't get much sleep, and I had a weird dream."

"Are you sure? You look pretty pale."

He drug his fingers from her forehead down to her cheek, still searching for fever. Kagome felt the path they took still scorching across her skin.

He tilted her chin up and studied her eyes, no doubt searching for further signs of illness. She noticed how piercing and clear his eyes were, deeper swirls of blue radiating from his pupil out into the bright blue of the rest of his eyes. She followed his long dark lashes and thick dark brows, took in the straight line of his nose, became completely distracted by his lips...

'. _..rest in the knowledge that you have bought your own happiness this day...'_

Yes, she was almost certain now. It was clear why her dream had returned and cut off early. Before she could think, or weigh the pros and cons, or talk some sense into herself, or snap herself out of it, she grabbed the neck of his shirt and pulled him forward. She kissed him firmly on the mouth, something in her reveling in the fact that she was finally done sticking her head in the sand and hiding from what her heart had been screaming at her for weeks now.

Damon was shocked for all of a second and a half before he tangled his hands in her hair and kissed her back, returning all of her ferocity and more. He didn't have long to enjoy anything though, as she came back to herself and realized what she'd done.

She jerked away, clasping her hands over her mouth, horror in her eyes. He hated the way that looked. He opened his mouth to assure her that she was fine, but she lept from her chair with tears in her eyes. She took a few steps back away from him.

"Oh my god. I'm sorry. I'm _so_ , _so_ sorry."

She dashed away up to her room and locked the door behind her, and Damon was left floundering. His heart was still racing and her scent was still fogging his brain.

And he had no idea what the hell had just happened.


	6. Chapter 6

Kagome paced tirelessly across the floor of her bedroom, chewing her fingernails to sore stumps. She was sure she'd worn a trail through the fibers, but she couldn't stop. Worry, panic, disgust and despair choked her, and her racing mind drove her on and made her restless.

' _WHAT was I thinking?_ ' She thought for the millionth time, ' _I've ruined everything, AGAIN!_ '

She didn't know what was wrong with her, didn't know why she couldn't just appreciate a great friendship without her stupid heart deciding to get involved. Again.

Damon was probably horrified. He'd let her into his home as a friendly gesture and now she was assaulting him in his kitchen, after he'd made her breakfast no less! He'd been open and sincere with her, and she'd completely run off the deep end with it. _AGAIN_. When would she learn?

Finally sick of herself, Kagome tossed herself across her bed and let her tears come. They soaked through her blanket and sheets, but she didn't care. It was barely noon and today had already been an emotional hurricane.

 _'Kami, why am I so stupid. HOW could I have let myself fall in love with him._ ' She thought desperately, before her thoughts sank fully into her conscious mind and she sat up abruptly with a sharp gasp.

 _'I... I love him?'_

She sat and digested that for a second. She'd been up here panicked about what she assumed was a crush, but her sneaky subconscious apparently had wildly different ideas today.

 _'How.. how did this happen?'_

Suddenly every cheeky smile, every wink, every smirk, every time he'd looked at her with those devastating blue eyes like she was his favorite person flashed in her mind's eye, and she wanted to scream. She'd never really stood a chance, had she?

 _'Way to go, Kagome. You really know how to screw yourself.'_

She hugged her legs to her chest and laid her cheek on her knees, eyes closing in mental exhaustion.

 _'But do I love him because I love him, or because he's the only person I know who isn't going to die?'_

And that presented another conundrum for her, because she was not going to torture herself, or risk ruining their wonderful friendship, if it wasn't for the right reasons.

* * *

Damon busied himself cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, and then sat in the chair Kagome had abandoned earlier. He was still reeling from everything he'd felt already today.

He'd been a bit nervous while cooking that he'd screw it up and embarrass himself, he'd been worried when Kagome had appeared ill, he'd been shocked and then elated when she'd kissed him, and then he'd been confused when she'd ran off like her tail was on fire.

He desperately wanted to know what she was thinking, desperately wanted to go to her and ask what it had all meant, but something told him that she did _not_ want to speak to him right now. So he'd give her some space, even if it killed him.

* * *

Kagome crept down the stairs as quietly as possible after having spent too many hours in her room moping. She needed to make a phone call.

She made for the front door, but noticed Damon sitting and reading one of her books she'd left downstairs. He was staring at her, both brows raised curiously. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, she waved her phone around in the air, a barely intelligible explanation following her out the door.

"Gotta go make a phone call and some other things see ya later, bye!"

She practically slammed the door behind her and rested her back against it, breathing heavily and trying to calm her racing heart.

She was such a coward.

But she was out of the house with no confrontation, and that's what mattered for now.

She got in her car and drove toward town and parked outside of that fateful cemetery. It was old enough that it had precious few visitors, especially with it being later in the afternoon. It suited her purposes just fine. She dialed the number to her home all the way in Japan, waiting anxiously for the line to pick up. Her mother always took the time to remind her before she left on these journeys that she could always call home for any reason at any time no matter what the time difference was. She'd rarely taken up that offer, choosing to mail letters and postcards instead, but she needed more than letter correspondence this time.

She thought the phone might ring forever, but she finally heard the line pick up, and her mother's sweet voice using the traditional greeting.

 _"Moshi Moshi-"_

"Mama..."

Her mother could hear the heartbreak in her voice and paused for a moment, before Mother Mode activated full force, even with an ocean to separate them.

 _"Kagome? What's the matter? Are you alright?"_

"Oh mama, I'm so stupid!"

And she broke down again, wishing more than anything she could just be in her mother's arms.

* * *

Damon sat slumped back on Stefan's couch scowling darkly at the ceiling.

"She kissed you and then just ran away? Did you say something mean? Did you eat something gross? You must have done something to mess it up!"

He sat up and glared at the meddlesome blonde in front of him before turning on his brother.

" _Why_ is she even here?"

Stefan's smile was one of resignation.

"I'm _here_ because I was visiting Elena!"

"And where is Elena?"

"She's going to get food!"

"So why didn't you go with her?!"

Stefan stepped in between them to cut off any further argument between Caroline and his brother. It was obvious to him that his brother was experiencing some level of distress, and Caroline's seeming need to taunt him about everything was really not necessary at the moment.

"Hey Care, can you go call Elena and see what's taking her so long?"

She rolled her eyes and grabbed her phone from her bag and headed toward the back door.

"Fine, I can take a hint! But I'm telling Elena everything!"

When the door closed behind her, both brothers let out a whooshing breath of relief. Caroline Forbes certainly new how to frustrate a person with an almost professional level of skill.

"Alright. Tell me again what happened."

* * *

Kagome laid up on the roof of the huge mansion she now called home, letting the peace of the star filled sky soak through her soul and sooth her heart.

She'd climbed up here form an upper floor window, finding the cool air and unobstructed view of the sky refreshing. After spilling everything to her mother about finally finding someone like her, and subsequently falling in love with him like a fool, she had lapped up every piece of motherly advice her mother had offered her.

She let it all swirl inside her mind and settle in bit by bit. Admittedly it all made her feel a little foolish.

 _'Kagome dear, based on what you've told me of his behavior, he may be interested...'_

 _'Why did you run from him?'_

 _'Sweetheart, you need to TALK to him.'_

When she'd voiced her next concern, her mother had actually laughed.

 _'But do I REALLY love him mama, for him... or just because he's the only one like me?'_

 _'Oh my darling, don't be silly! You've already told me you've met someone else there, too! This Caroline? Do you love her knowing she will live forever?'_

 _'Well no! I can barely spend a day just shopping with Caroline.'_

 _'And If one of your other friends showed up from the past, like that wolf you were so fond of. If he showed up right now and asked you to marry him, would you leave this Damon and now love this other person who shared your life span?'_

' _I... no I wouldn't... I COULDN'T!'_

 _'Exactly sweetie. Comparable life spans does not mean compatibility. Take a day or two to think about it, but then TALK to this boy! I've waited long enough to see you settled and happy Kagome, don't stand in your own way of a good life with someone who cares for you! And send me a picture, he must be terribly handsome!'_

 _'Oh Mama!'_

She had ended that phone call feeling much better about everything, and much, much sillier about her behavior. Such was the skill of the Higurashi Matriarch.

She decided her mother's advice was sound. She would take these next two days to make certain of her heart, and then she'd risk it all to see if she had any sort of future with the beautiful vampire that had snuck into her heart when she wasn't looking.

* * *

Elena had joined the party at some point, which was wonderful. He just _loved_ having everyone poking around in his business.

That was the last time he tried to get any brotherly advice about anything.

Despite the awkwardness of having his ex-love giving him advice about his new love, he had to admit she _had_ been pretty helpful.

"Just give her a couple of days to breath and then corner. You really should talk about this."

And so that's how he and the unexpected woman of his dreams spent the next two agonizing days, orbiting around each other like ships passing in the night. He tried to give her as much space as possible without seeming like he was avoiding her. If she passed him in the hall or on her way into the kitchen, he'd smile at her and make it an unmistakable greeting. He'd tell her good morning when she came down for coffee. He kept himself as approachable as possible, which was a feat in itself since he'd spent so long trying to seem _un_ approachable, but he wanted her to feel safe when she decided to finally come speak to him.

But she was running out of time for that. If she didn't come to him at the end of the two days he'd mentally allotted her, _he_ would be confronting _her._

* * *

The morning of the third day, Damon decided to make some coffee for Kagome as a sort of olive branch to the conversation he'd be having with her _today_. She'd had her two days, and it was time to talk. If all went how _he_ wanted it to go, he would end this day with a new girlfriend. A girlfriend that would hopefully be his _last_ girlfriend.

It seemed, however, that he wouldn't be starting this talk after all. Kagome came downstairs and stood before him, her expression open and teetering between hopeful and remorseful. He really hated seeing her like that, but if she was actually coming to him first, he'd let her have her say.

For Kagome's part, she was finally done freaking out. She'd been up too late and woken up too early fretting and agonizing about this before she decided that she was thinking way too much. If she could kick Naraku's ass, she could kick this fear in the ass and just get it over with. Her mother was right; happiness was just right there in front of her, and she was done standing in her own way.

But first things first, she had to stop leaving Damon in the dark. He'd been so patient with her these last days, she didn't think he'd ever know how grateful she was. Maybe she'd start off that way.

He was already waiting in the kitchen, a fresh cup of coffee ready and waiting for her. She smiled at him, really looking him in the eyes for the first time in days.

"Damon..." she sighed, taking one last moment to shake off her remaining apprehension.

"Yes Kagome?" His voice was soft and inviting, but his eyes bore into hers intensely. She could tell he was very interested in what she had to say. This both bolstered her and made her more nervous.

"First off, thank you for giving me some space these last two days."

"Of course princess, if you need space I can give you space."

She wrinkled her nose at him slightly. He was trying to lighten the mood slightly for her, and she appreciated it so much. He'd been giving and giving to her, hadn't he? Maybe she _didn't_ need to be so nervous. She rested against another counter top and looked down into the dark depths of her coffee.

"I just... had a bit of an emotional crisis."

"Are you alright?"

"Um... I think so. Sorry about... you know.. the other day in the kitchen."

"Why?"

She wasn't sure what he was asking.

"Why? Why what?"

"Why are you sorry?"

"Well I mean, I just... _kissed_ you and, I don't know, you've been such a good friend that I'm sorry if I made it weird..."

She looked back up and noticed he'd moved closer, arms crossed over his chest. There was a _look_ on his face that she couldn't quite decipher, a ghost of a smirk lifting one corner of his mouth.

 _'Oh no! Don't look at his mouth!'_

She snapped her eyes shut and shook her head to clear it, and he used that opportunity to get even closer. It startled her when she opened her eyes to find him standing over her. She knew she was blushing brightly, and he grinned when he noticed.

"You don't have to be sorry that you kissed me, Kagome."

"I... I don't?" His proximity was clouding her head, but she couldn't find it in her to ask him to back up. The look on his face made him look like a downright predator, which he technically was. More surprising was how much she _didn't_ mind feeling like his prey.

"No. I would like to know why you did though."

This time, her whole face burnt with embarrassment. Was she supposed to just _say_ it now? Well, that _had_ been her whole purpose with coming down here.

"I... I Uh..."

"Yes, kagome?" He was looming over her now, and staring into his eyes was hypnotizing. She felt almost as if she was staring into the eyes of a serpent.

"I just..."

He leaned over her, planting one hand on either side of her on the cabinet behind her, effectively caging her in. Her heart faltered and her mind felt like it was floating in a thick fog. And she was _looking at his mouth again._

"You can say it Kagome, it's alright."

He'd practically purred at her, and her eyes fluttered closed as she let her feelings for him solidify one last time. She met his eyes with new determination and clarity, and she saw something close to triumph flare in the depths of his.

"I... I love you."

His eyes widened and sparkled, and the next thing she knew, she was swept up in his embrace, his mouth on hers again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, but he pulled away just enough to look her deep in the eyes.

"I love you too," he whispered almost reverently, and Kagome let out what was neither a laugh or a sob as tears began to stream down her cheeks.

She kissed him again, her soul singing with pure elation, and Damon tried to count every one of his lucky stars before the sound of her growling stomach broke their haze of emotion.

He chuckled at her embarrassment and kissed her nose. They could finish this _after_ she'd eaten.

Though perhaps they would never quite be "finished" with this. As far as either was concerned, today was just the first day of their journey into forever. The future was no longer a bleak, lonely blank slate looming before them. The happiness they'd searched for so tirelessly was finally in their grasp, and every second, every heartache, every day of loneliness had been worth it for this.

-END- 

**A.N.: HEY WAIT! What happened to the yokai?! Good question! I don't know. That's a closure Kagome just didn't get, and neither do we. Maybe they'll turn up later, maybe they won't, life is unpredictable that way!  
**

**Thank you all so much for your views and reviews! If you want more DamonXKagome, I have another completed story called Sea Meets Earth you could check out if you haven't already. For more crossover fun, I'm currently writing a ThranduilXKagome called The Return of the Queen. I absolutely hope to revisit this pairing in the future, though I don't have any current story plots brewing. Well, see you all next time!**


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